


the curious case of catching murderous lunatics

by SuchASeeweedBrain



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Agent Stiles Stilinski, Alpha Derek, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Werewolves Are Known, Derek Hale is Not a Failwolf, Kate is here so you know WARNING, M/M, Spark Stiles Stilinski
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 05:34:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 10,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29308878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuchASeeweedBrain/pseuds/SuchASeeweedBrain
Summary: Stiles didn't think he would ever get the chance to take on the Hale case, the case which cost his father his life, but here it is, ten years later. The file is in his hands and he's not letting go of this one until he's found the two people responsible and brought them to justice. First, they have to go talk to Derek Hale, the sole survivor of the Hale family.orStiles is an agent for the Supernatural Crime Task Force and he gets assigned the Hale case, mostly by accident.
Relationships: Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 20
Kudos: 47





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [lusblim4](https://archiveofourown.org/users/lusblim4/gifts).



> This is a birthday gift for my wonderful friend Lubs, Happy Birthday!!!!   
> It was supposed to be finished by now, but as you know I've had a serious case of writer's block lately, I'm getting out of my slump now and I'm hoping to finish this soon!  
> For now, here's chapter 1. This is kind of a short introduction so that we all know what's going on!
> 
> A note: The Hale family still died in this one and Kate and Gerard are in this so.... they're a warning on their own I guess. Nothing graphic I don't think. If it goes there I'll make sure to update the tags.

The second Stiles got his hands on the Hale file, he knew he wasn’t going to be able to let it go until he caught the culprit and locked them up for the rest of their lives.

He knew it wasn’t technically supposed to be a reward, to have been given a cold case from ten years ago, but to Stiles, it felt like he’d just won the lottery.

‘What did we get?’ Isaac asked him as he flopped back down behind his desk. He was already reaching for the file still firmly clasped in Stiles’ hand. He had to pull on it twice to get Stiles to let it go.

‘Hartman gave me the Hale case, the _Hale case_.’ Stiles leaned forward and kept his voice low. The last thing he wanted was for someone to overhear and try to steal this case from him.

‘He gave _us_ the Hale-‘ Isaac started off annoyed, until it registered what Stiles had just said. ‘Wait, seriously? What the shit?’

‘I know right!’ Stiles said as Isaac flipped the file open and started reading. ‘For a second I wanted to ask if he’d given me the right file, but then I just took it and bailed.’ Isaac looked up with a sharp grin.

‘Good job Stiles, guess you listen when I talk after all.’

‘Sometimes.’ Stiles said with a shrug. ‘Look man, this is fucking _huge_ okay?’

‘Yeah I know. This is the case your dad was working on when he- uh, y’know?’ Isaac cleared his throat awkwardly.

‘Died?’ Stiles offered. ‘Was murdered?’ Isaac glared at him. ‘Yeah, this is that case, but you knew that, because I never shut up about it.’

‘I guess I’m just sort of concerned?’ Isaac said carefully. ‘I know you’ve wanted to get a crack at this case basically since you got here, but as you said, this is the case your father was working when he was killed, the case itself was horrible, I don’t know man, I’m just a little baffled Hartman would let us do this.’

‘Hey, we have a great track record.’ Stiles protested.

‘We have a great track record of closing cases, _not_ a great track record in general, Stiles.’ Isaac said with a sharp look.

‘Okay, so I have a few disciplinary marks in my file, but it’s not that bad.’ Isaac sighed deeply.

‘Just try not to loose yourself in this one okay?’ His partner/ tentative friend made sure to make eye-contact to really drive it home. ‘You need to keep a cool head or this one is going to tear you apart.’

‘Yeah, I got it.’ Stiles knew he was serious and that he meant well, but Stiles was fine. The worrying wasn’t necessary. They were going to find the murderer and finally close this goddamn case. Stiles would finally be able to let this case go, his father could rest easy and the Hale family would get the justice they deserved.

He ignored Isaacs doubtful look and logged in on his computer so he could access the database while Isaac read the physical copy of the file.

The case was hard to read. Stiles had been doing this for about two years now, but seeing what humans (and other creatures) could do to each other never got easier.

The SCTF (Supernatural Crime Task Force) was founded to investigate crimes involving supernaturals, whether they were the victim or the perpetrator. Anything that looked vaguely supernatural related was handed over to them. Every state had at least one bureau, made mandatory by the government.

Hunters were told they could either go through the training programme like everyone else and become a SC-agent, or they could stop “hunting”. If they continued, they would be tried and prosecuted as the law dictated it.

The Argents hadn’t cared.

It was even worse, because the Hales hadn’t even done anything wrong. They had been one of the most prominent and well-respected werewolf families in the country. Old blood, but not snobby. Their alphas had always worked with lawmakers to make sure everyone was as safe as they could be.

Talia Hale had been an impressive woman. Stiles stared at her picture. He had a vague memory of her, from when he was maybe eleven years old. He remembered how she’d come to see his father, to talk about something (he didn’t remember what), he remembered how she’d smiled at him. He remembered thinking she was very beautiful and his father had spoken highly of her.

She had all of the familial Hale traits: the dark hair, the pale eyes, the cheekbones. Scrolling past the pictures of the deceased in the file, he saw all or at least one of these traits in all of the victims, apart from Alpha Hale’s husband (Leon) and Peter Hale’s wife (Amaia).

Stiles could feel his heart constrict in his chest as he came to the pictures of the kids. The children that had died in the fire. There were too many of them. Another reason this case _had_ to be solved. No one should be allowed to get away with killing children. Ever. Especially not in this way. It made Stiles’ blood boil and his magic tingle at his fingertips, begging for Stiles to let it at whoever was responsible.

After the first round of pictures the file continued with the testimonies of Laura and Derek Hale. The medical files of Peter Hale. It continued with the report of the dark figure slipping into Peter Hale’s hospital room and smothering him.

He knew what would come next, but it didn’t make it any easier to read. (He supposed Isaac had a point, it _was_ fairly bizarre Hartman gave him the case that had lead to his father’s death.)

SC-agent John Stilinski had been killed along with Laura Hale. Derek Hale had managed to survive by diving out of a window and running for hours, bursting into a police station, injured, crying, terrified and exhausted. His sister had told him to run and he did.

By the time police had arrived at what was supposed to be the safehouse, Stiles’ father and Laura Hale were dead and the killers long gone. A Hunter turned SC-agent was found to have leaked the location to the Argents.

With all of the information that was in the file, it seemed borderline ridiculous that the killers hadn’t been caught, but Gerard and Kate Argent had been resourceful and well connected and they’d managed to disappear.

The SCTF had spend years trying to find them, but to no avail. After two years of trying to track them down, they’d- well, not given up, but put the case on a backburner. There was so much more work to do, so many other cases and it really appeared like the Argents had just vanished into thin air. Over the years they’d caught their fair share of accomplices of the Argents, partially thanks to Chris Argent who flipped on his father and sister, but for the last five years at least, the case had been quiet.

Stiles was hellbent on changing that.

‘We should talk to Derek Hale.’ Isaac said after he’d flipped the last page of the file.

‘Yeah we should.’ Stiles agreed, clicking out of the picture of little Camilla Hale. He couldn’t get caught up in her wide pale eyes and angelic dark curls. He needed to focus on the information. He switched to the picture of Kate Argent they had on file.

It was a picture from ten years ago. Caught on a security camera somewhere in Sacramento. She was 25 at the time, admittedly beautiful, deadly. She’d put the target on the Hale family after she’d come across Derek at a fundraiser. She’d tried to make a move on him (which was gross on its own, he’d been _sixteen_ ) and he’d rejected her.

In turn, she’d convinced her father the Hale family had to be dealt with.

‘Tomorrow maybe?’ Isaac said. ‘He lives here in Sacramento, right?’

‘Yeah.’ Stiles said as he typed Derek Hale’s name into their database. ‘He works and lives downtown. We could drop by his work tomorrow?’ Stiles would have preferred to go that same day, but he was trying to prove a point here.

‘Maybe not a conversation to have at his job?’

‘He’s probably got a nice cushy corner office or something.’ Stiles shrugged.

‘He’s some kind of lawyer right?’ Isaac shifted in his chair. ‘Or he employs lawyers? I’m not sure.’ He titled his head back to stare at the ceiling. There were still a few holes in there from when Stiles had shot pen fillings into the ceiling with an elastic band (the fillings themselves had all been removed though).

‘I think he just runs an organisation that helps supernaturals who are being harassed and/or treated unfairly. An activist of sorts.’ Stiles jotted down the address of both Derek Hale’s work and his home address in his notebook. ‘We’ll go see him at his work tomorrow morning, if he doesn’t want to speak to us there, we’ll make an appointment.’

‘Okay, that sounds like a plan.’ Isaac agreed. Then he sighed deeply. ‘I don’t think he’s going to be happy to see us.’

‘What? Why not? We’re going to catch the assholes who killed his family, why wouldn’t he be happy?’ Isaac send him an unamused look.

‘We’re going to be dragging up all kinds of shitty memories and there’s actually _nothing_ he can probably tell us that’s going to be of any help.’ Isaac sounded firm and definitely like he was warning Stiles as he continued. ‘We’re going to be gentle and we’re not going to ask him questions that we already know the answer to. We’re going to be kind and not get laser focused on trying to get answers out of him he can’t give us anyways.’

‘I’m always nice.’ Stiles said and the look Isaac threw him was so disbelieving Stiles could feel it in his bones.

‘That’s the biggest lie I’ve heard you tell this week, and you also said that your ADHD wasn’t that bad.’ Isaac pushed himself away from his desk and Stiles crumbled a piece of paper into a ball and threw it at Isaac’s back.

‘You’re an asshole!’ Isaac turned, the paper ball missed him by a mile.

‘Now that- that’s true.’ He smirked and continued on his way to the breakroom. Probably to get some shitty coffee.

They worked till six, going through old leads and possible hideouts the previous investigators had already checked. They clearly had had hideouts that Chris Argent didn’t know about, because he’d told them all he knew. At least, they were pretty sure he’d told them everything. 

They went home at 6, mostly because Isaac insisted that once they got properly started on this case, Stiles would stop sleeping for longer than four hours a night and Isaac refused to let him start now. So Stiles went home to his cold, empty apartment and heated a precooked meal in the microwave. He ate it while tasting none of it (probably for the better), sitting on his crappy old couch, blankly staring at his shitty TV. His mind was already running over the information over and over and over again.

He was going to find Kate Argent and he was going to either put her in jail for the rest of her life, or kill her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2!

Stiles found himself tilting his head back like a child to try and see where this goddamn building ended.

‘Jeez, you’d think a non-profit would be in a bit less of a… swanky building.’ He said as he could hear Isaac stop next to him.

‘ _Swanky_?’

‘It’s perfectly acceptable terminology.’

‘Sure.’ Isaac said, as dry as the goddamn desert. ‘Derek Hale is rich as hell man, he can afford it.’

‘Right, the insurance money.’ It made Stiles flinch even thinking about it. He was glad that Hale had found a better place to stick his money than Stiles had. A non-profit was pretty much the most “I’m a good person” place to put money that you were given because your whole family died.

‘They’re on the-‘ Isaac checked _Stiles’_ notepad- wait, when the hell had Isaac taken that? ‘Twenty fifth floor.’ He held out Stiles’ notepad without looking at him. ‘You left it at the office this morning.’

‘Right.’ Stiles tucked the notepad in his inside pocket. ‘Thanks asshole.’

‘You’re welcome dickbag.’

There was a receptionist and security on the ground floor. They weren’t allowed to enter the building at all until they had identified themselves. There were apparently several companies here that didn’t want just anyone walking around the building. That was perfectly fine by Stiles. There was nothing wrong with a little healthy paranoia. Luckily their badges got them past them easily.

They took the elevator to the twenty fifth floor. When the doors opened there was a strikingly beautiful blond woman waiting for them. She grinned and Stiles wasn’t sure if she was happy to see them, or if she wanted to eat them. He liked her immediately.

‘Hello, I am Erica Reyes. You are the SC-agents?’

‘Yes, I am agent Lahey, this is agent Stilinski. We’d like to talk to Derek Hale.’ Isaac introduced them, sounding far more professional than his angelic baby face and scuffed sneakers would have you think he was capable of.

‘Of course, follow me.’ Erica Reyes said and she _sashayed_ away. Stiles kept his eyes firmly off her figure, as tempting as she was. There seemed to be approximately twenty five people at work in a fairly open-spaced workplace. They weren’t all dressed in suits, some were, others were dressed far more casually. Stiles made a mental note to figure out who all of these people were. Background checks, just to be sure.

Erica lead them to one of a few rooms that had a door and that wasn’t just a cubicle. The room she lead them to had a giant glass wall, but said wall was currently covered by some sort of blinds. There was a name plaque on the door. _Derek Hale_. Not incredibly descriptive. She didn’t knock before opening the door, she just lead them inside.

‘There are two SC-agents here to see you.’ She said, she walked all the way up to Derek Hale’s desk and grabbed what seemed to be his empty coffee mug.

Derek Hale looked up at her from where he’d studiously been staring at his computer. His mouth quirked up in half a smile.

‘Thanks Erica.’ He said and Stiles’ stomach sort of dropped through the floor, or maybe that was his lungs, or his heart or his liver? Whatever it was it skipped a beat and _squeezed_ because good lord Derek Hale had grown up.

He’d seen the pictures of Derek Hale after he’d made it to the police station after loosing his entire family and going through approximately fifteen thousand traumatic experiences in a row, at _sixteen_. He’d looked skinny and scared and bruised and like his world had come crashing down around him.

That was Derek Hale at sixteen.

At twenty six, he was far, _far_ removed from that skinny, slightly awkward teenager with big ears. He had broad shoulders underneath a perfectly tailored suit jacket. He had the tell-tale dark Hale hair and pale eyes. His jawline was completely ridiculous and the _cheekbones_. Supermodels would probably weep at the sight of this guy.

‘Hello, I’m agent Lahey and this is agent Stilinski. We’re with the Sacramento branch of the SCTF.’ Isaac introduced them, again.

‘Derek Hale.’ The man in question said, as if he could be anyone else. ‘Please, have a seat.’ He sounded like a perfectly pleasant businessman. Almost too ordinary.

‘Coffee, agents?’ Erica asked, even though Stiles didn’t think that was actually her job around here. She had a diamond ring on her left ring finger.

‘I would love some.’ Stiles said, smiling at Erica.

‘I’m okay, thank you.’ Isaac said, taking a seat on the right chair in front of Hale’s desk.

‘How do you take your coffee, agent Stilinski?’ Erica asked, Stiles saw Hale give her a _look_ from the corner of his eye.

‘Black, please.’ She smiled pleasantly before disappearing out of the door. Stiles turned his attention back to Hale at the exact moment Isaac did.

‘Mister Hale-‘ Isaac started, but Hale interrupted almost immediately.

‘Please, Derek is fine.’ _Yes he is_ , Stiles couldn’t help but think. He needed to get a hold of himself because he was in the room with a werewolf and the absolute last thing he needed was for _Derek_ to feel uncomfortable around him.

‘Alright, Derek, we are here because we have been assigned the case of your family’s murder and we wanted to touch base with you and let you know that we will be doing everything we can to finally catch the people responsible and bring your family the justice they deserve.’ Isaac said. Hale leaned back in his chair a little and his eyes turned to Stiles.

He suddenly looked much older. Tired. Maybe a little scared. Like he’d known exactly what they were here for and yet it still hit him like a punch to the stomach. Stiles could relate.

‘Stilinski, you said?’ Hale asked, his voice still sounded calm to Stiles’ human ears, but he was sure a werewolf would be able to hear a tremor in there.

‘Yes, Stiles Stilinski.’ He wasn’t sure why he added his first (sort of) name in there. ‘My father-‘

‘Died protecting me.’ Hale said. ‘I remember.’ Yeah, Stiles was pretty sure Hale wouldn’t be able to forget it if he wanted to.

‘Yes, he did.’ Stiles said, clenching his jaw tight to keep himself from getting emotional. It had been ten years goddammit. Erica, like an angel, appeared with Stiles’ coffee and apparently a refill for Hale.

‘Thanks Erica. Can you ask Boyd to take my ten o’clock?’

‘Of course, he’ll be happy to.’ By the time Erica had closed the door behind her, Hale had lost some of the tension in his shoulders. Well, if Stiles was asked to take a guess as to who put the diamond ring on Erica’s finger, he’d guess Hale.

The coffee was really damn good.

‘So, what can I do for you?’ Hale asked.

‘We just wanted to ask you some basic questions. Just to make sure we cover our bases.’ Stiles said. Hale made a motion Stiles interpreted as “go ahead”. ‘Have you seen or heard from either Katherine or Gerard Argent at all in the last six months?’

‘No I have not.’

‘Have you felt like you were being watched and/ or followed?’

‘No, I haven’t.’

‘Do you preform background checks on all of your employees?’

‘Yes. I think you’ll find I’m somewhat paranoid these days.’

‘I can hardly blame you. Plus, a little paranoia is healthy. It’s better to be safe than sorry and better to be paranoid than dead.’ Hale titled his head, almost a smile on his face.

‘I like that.’ Hale said. ‘Maybe I’ll have that printed, just so that I can point at that every time Erica says I’m overreacting.’

‘It’s good to be cautious, especially until we’ve caught the Argents.’ Isaac said with his serious voice.

‘You really think you’ll be able to catch them, after ten years? How do you even know they’re still in the country? Why pick the case back up now? Do you have new leads?’ Hale asked. He pulled his tie looser and undid the top two buttons of his shirt. ‘Sorry, I only really dress up like this to meet clients.’

‘That’s fine.’ Isaac said as Stiles forced himself to drag his eyes away from Hale’s throat. Good god he needed to get a hold of himself asap.

‘We don’t know if they’re still in the country, but Chris Argent suggested back in the day that they would probably stay in the US if it was even the slightest bit possible. I think he said that he thought they were too proud to flee the country. We don’t currently have new leads, but it’s been ten years, we’re hoping they’ve gotten lax at this point. We hope they’re thinking they got off scot free, so they’ll make a mistake.’ Stiles explained. He’d done a lot of thinking last night and this really was their best hope. They’d gotten lazy over the last ten years and they would leave a clue somewhere.

‘Have you spoken to Chris Argent?’ Hale asked.

‘Not yet.’

‘You should.’ Hale cleared his throat. ‘I’m not his biggest fan, obviously, but I believe he didn’t know what his father and sister were planning and he has tried to help find them before.’

‘We will speak with him.’ Isaac assured him. ‘In the mean time, because we are going to start poking around again, it is possible that they might be alerted to that. Do you think you would be in danger if they knew we were closing in? They did not make an attempt after you escaped them, did they?’

‘Probably.’ Hale said with another sigh. ‘They did not make an attempt after I escaped, no, but I am unsure if that’s because the heat got too high, or because they stopped caring about wiping out every last Hale.’ Hale ran a hand along his jaw, Stiles tapped his fingers on his own thigh. ‘They haven’t tried anything over the last ten years, but who the fuck knows to be honest. They’re insane.’

‘Well, make sure you keep your eyes open and if you see anything suspicious, please do not hesitate to call us or the police.’ Stiles said, trying to make sure he was getting through to Hale. The amount of times people didn’t call them because they thought they were overreacting was kind of scary. He hoped Hale wasn’t one of those. ‘Even if it seems small or insignificant, it might be what we need.’

‘I will do that. I haven’t forgotten the scent of an Argent, I don’t think I ever will, if I catch it anywhere or if I feel like I’m being followed I will let you know.’ Stiles nodded, letting himself feel just a little relieved, Hale sounded very serious.

‘Okay, thank you very much for your time.’ Stiles pulled one of his business cards from his jacket pocket and used the pen attached to his notebook to scribble his personal cell on the back. ‘We will leave you with this-‘ he put the card down on the desk. ‘and we will try to keep you up to date as much as we can.’

‘Yes, thank you for your time.’ Isaac was already heading for the door, Stiles about to follow, when Hale spoke up.

‘I- I am glad you are on the case agent Stilinski. Your father was a really good man and I believe you’ll be able to find the people who hurt our families.’ Hale sounded a little like it pained him to say the words, but he didn’t sound insincere. Stiles found himself frozen for a few seconds before he managed to get his face under control. He turned to Hale.

‘Thank you, mist- Derek. I will do my absolute best.’ Hale gave him a firm nod before clearing his throat and turning back to his computer. When Isaac opened the door, Stiles noticed it seemed thicker than a regular door.

‘Well, that was something.’ Isaac said after he’d closed the door to Hale’s office. ‘You were actually not an asshole for once.’ Stiles ignored him.

‘Was that office sound proofed?’ Stiles leaned in close and kept his voice down. He was pretty sure several people were still able to hear him, but the idea counted for something as well.

‘Yes, I’m pretty sure it was.’ Isaac said. ‘I can imagine it’d be rough to get any work done if you can constantly hear everything going on in the entire office.’ Erica waved at them cheerfully as they passed by her desk. She was typing at lightning speed, a stack of files next to her almost as tall as her monitor.

‘Yeah, that’s true.’ Stiles agreed as they arrived at the elevator. ‘Also for privacy’s sake probably.’

‘Yeah, agreed.’ As the elevator doors closed, Isaac leaned back against the wall and breathed out deeply. ‘He seemed… calm for the most part and so did you.’

‘It’s been ten years-‘

‘We both know that doesn’t mean shit, Stiles.’ Isaac cut in. ‘This isn’t going to be easy for you, and the sooner you admit that, the sooner we can get to catching these bastards, because the last thing I need is for you to get caught up in your emotions right when we have them in our sights. Get it out of your system now so we can focus.’

‘Jeez Isaac.’ Stiles said, crossing his arms. ‘Look, I’m cool. Is this gonna suck? Probably, but I want these people caught and locked up for the rest of their hopefully miserable lives and I know you do too. So let’s just get to work okay.’ He made sure his voice was perfectly level. ‘I’m fine.’

And it was true too, until Hartman tried to take them off the case that afternoon.

‘-Stilinski, I’ve told you fifteen times now. I gave you the _wrong file_ , you are not going after the people who murdered your father. That’s a conflict of interest and if anything were to happen it’s going to be a huge playing card for their defence-‘

‘Nothing is going to go wrong!’ Stiles argued. Isaac was standing next to the door, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He hadn’t inserted himself in the argument basically since it started. ‘We already have a few ideas, some minor leads, we’re going to catch them and put them in prison where they belong.’

‘You _can’t_ be unbiased, Stilinski, don’t even pretend-‘

‘I’m not saying that!’ Stiles threw his arms to the side as he paced back and forth in front of his boss’ desk, he knew he’d raised his voice several times, but at least he wasn’t full on yelling. ‘This is not a question of if they’re guilty or not. We _know_ they’re guilty, everyone knows they’re guilty, we just need to catch them! There’s no conflict of interests in that!’

‘And what if you end up having to shoot them? What then? You really think there won’t be people gunning for you, saying you killed them out of revenge?’

‘I _wouldn’t_ kill them out of revenge _,_ and I would like to think you and Isaac would back me up on that.’ Stiles snapped. ‘I’m not a killer.’

‘Your reaction here has already proven you’re too emotional about this case. You are off the case and that’s it.’ Hartman said, the finality in his voice was like a punch the gut. Stiles had one final card to play though.

‘Fine,’ Stiles stopped and straightened up, facing his boss. ‘but you get to call Derek Hale and tell him that you’ve taken us off the case. He was just saying this morning how he was so glad that I was on the case, because he knew I would do everything in my power to catch the people that had hurt _our_ families.’

Hartman narrowed his eyes at Stiles. Stiles didn’t hold his breath even though he wanted to, he forced himself to breathe deep, even breaths.

‘You are a little shit.’

‘I know, but you like how tenacious I am.’

‘Not when you use it against me.’ Stiles shrugged. He didn’t really care. ‘Sit, let’s see if Hale actually cares or if he was just blowing smoke up your ass.’ Stiles did as he was told and then crossed his fingers and hid them under his thigh. He wasn’t sure if this was actually going to work or not, but it was his last play and he wasn’t about to give up before he’d tried everything.

Hartman looked up Hale’s number and dialled it, he set his office phone on speaker and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms as he looked at Stiles.

‘ _Derek Hale’s office, this is Erica, how can I help you?’_ Erica sounded perfectly peppy.

‘Hello, this is Joseph Hartman, director of the Sacramento SCTF. I would like to speak to Derek Hale.’

‘ _The SCTF twice in one day, interesting_.’ Erica said. Stiles could vaguely hear her keyboard clicking away. ‘ _Let me see if he’s available, is it urgent?_ ’ Hartman looked at Stiles as he answered.

‘It’s not life or death, but I would like to speak to him today.’

‘ _Alright, one moment please_.’ The next thing they knew they were listening to glorified elevator music. It went on for about a minute before there was a click and Erica’s voice again. ‘ _Mister Hale has a few minutes right now. I will put you through._ ’

‘Thank you, Erica.’ Hartman just managed to say before the line clicked again and Hale’s voice sounded.

‘ _Hello?_ ’

‘Mister Hale, this is Joseph Hartman, director of the Sacramento SCTF-‘

‘ _I spoke with two of your agents this morning_.’ Stiles bit the inside of his cheek in order not to smile. Hale seemed to have a habit of interrupting people. ‘ _I was very glad to hear that my family’s case is going to be actively pursued again. I looked into the agents you have on the case and I’m quite impressed._ ’ Stiles had to clench his jaw in order not to smirk at his boss. This was going even better than planned.

‘Ah yes, they are certainly… enthusiastic.’ Hartman said, glaring at Stiles. ‘Unfortunately it seems like I gave them the wrong file, my plan was to have two more experienced agents handle the case-‘

‘ _Oh, that’s not necessary. I have faith in agents Stilinski and Lahey. It was actually quite comforting to know that Stilinski is on the case now. I’m sure your other agents would do good work as well, but I find it reassuring to know he also has a personal connection to the case. I find that I do my best work when I’m personally invested in a case. And also, I know I can_ trust _Stilinski. I’m sure you understand my apprehension towards other SCTF agents.’_ Hale was saying the exact right things and he didn’t even know it. If Hartman hadn’t been looking so thunderous, Stiles would have done a victory dance.

‘Well, if you are certain you would like to keep them on the case… in my experience someone who is as close to the case as Stilinski is, doesn’t always make rational decisions. This could end up working against us in court-‘

‘ _I don’t think there’s any question whether the Argents are guilty or not. They just need to be caught and I trust that Lahey_ and _Stilinski can do that. Of course, they are your agents and I don’t really have a say in the matter, but I would be perfectly happy to let them continue to handle the case._ ’

‘Well, if you are certain…’

‘ _Quite certain_.’

‘I suppose they can stay on the case.’ Checkmate.

‘ _I’m glad to hear that. Thank you for your call director.’_

‘Thank you for your patience and continued belief, mister Hale.’

‘ _Of course_.’ Hale said before hanging up the phone.

‘Not a word.’ Hartman said as he hung up the phone on his end. ‘If, even for a second, I feel like you are in too deep or you will do something that’s going to put this taskforce in a bad light, I will take you off this case faster than you can say “but, sir”. Understood?’ Stiles nodded and he figured Isaac did to. ‘Now get out.’ Stiles didn’t salute, because he was an _adult_ (sort of) and he managed to keep the giddy grin off his face until they were back at their desks.

‘You are out of your mind.’ Isaac said as he flopped down in his chair. ‘Batshit insane.’

‘It worked.’ Stiles said, he hid his hands under the desk to make sure Isaac couldn’t see they were shaking.

‘I can’t believe Hale said that stuff. We literally just talked to him for maybe ten minutes.’ Isaac was nervously shuffling papers around on his desk. As much as he’d pretended he wasn’t bothered in the room itself, he’d clearly been tense. ‘Seriously Stiles, one day Hartman isn’t going to humour you anymore.’

‘I was just defending us-‘

‘I know he was good friends with your father or whatever but jeez man, you have to at least keep your voice down.’ Isaac barrelled through.

‘Okay, fine. Next time, I’ll try to keep my voice down.’

‘ _Next time_ , he says.’ Isaac muttered. ‘Okay, let’s just get to work. I need to not hear your voice for a bit.’

So Stiles shut up and got to work. They made an appointment to go see Chris Argent the next day and otherwise went and put out several notifications to let other SCTFs know that they were actively looking for Kate and Gerard Argent again. A little refresher to make sure they were still on the lookout.

Stiles made sure that pictures of both Kate and Gerard were being circulated to police stations, federal agencies and on a whim, he added hospitals to his list. Gerard Argent was in his seventies at this point. It couldn’t hurt.

As they left for home, Stiles tried to turn his brain off. Make himself get some rest, but there were a lot of things racing around his mind. Some of which were Hale’s words.

Stiles knew he was good at his job, but he also knew he was young. Very young. Did Hale really have that much faith in him? That he’d reject the offer to have more experienced agents on the case? Stiles wasn’t sure what he would have done if he was in Hale’s shoes. Maybe that’s what baffled him so much.

He wanted this case though. He wanted to be the one to catch these people and he wanted to be the one to tell Derek Hale that he didn’t need to be as paranoid anymore, that he was _safe_. Stiles couldn’t even imagine what it was like to have two people like the Argents hanging over your head for ten years. To have the two people responsible for the death of your entire family still out there, still lurking.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I've had a lot on my mind recently, but here's chapter 3.
> 
> This is probs not going to be super long. I'm kind of just getting back into my writing groove and I wanna make sure I finish this if it leaves me again.

Chris Argent wasn’t the one to open the door to the modern looking house that they pulled up to the next morning. Instead it was his daughter, Allison was what she introduced herself as. She was beautiful and Stiles could see Isaac blink a few times before he found his voice and managed to introduce them. Stiles fought a grin.

Chris Argent didn’t look much like his sister, which Stiles was happy about. It made it easier not to treat him like a suspect, but like a source of information.

He was hospitable though and when he heard Stiles’ last name, he could see immediate recognition on his face. It felt strangely good to see that his father wasn’t being forgotten.

They asked Argent about all the hideouts he knew his family had used, just to make sure he hadn’t forgotten one ten years ago. They asked about possible aliases and if he knew of anything else that might make it so that they could catch his father and sister.

He didn’t really give them anything that they hadn’t known already. He confirmed the hideouts had had given them ten years ago, he confirmed that his family had a tendency to use last names that had a link to silver (because Argent meant silver in French and they were pretentious assholes) and that he hoped they would have gotten sloppy by now. Pretty much the exact same thing Stiles hoped.

As they walked back out towards their SCTF car, Stiles bumped his shoulder into Isaac.

‘So, you like brunettes, huh?’

‘Shut the fuck up.’ Isaac said, but there wasn’t much heat in it, mostly embarrassment. ‘Here I was, being nice, not mentioning that you were practically drooling over Hale, but now you’ve started it.’ Stiles spluttered some unintelligible nonsense.

‘You would never skip on an opportunity like that.’ He managed.

‘Yeah well, I figured if I was making you be nice, I should try the same thing myself.’ Isaac slid into the driver’s seat and Stiles made a face before moving to the other side of the car. They had made the deal to switch who drove pretty much the second they started working together. They both thought the other was the worse driver, so they’d compromised.

‘We should make sure to add the “they probably have a last name that has something to do with silver” thing to the briefs.’ Isaac said as he pulled away from the curb.

‘It’s so pretentious. I hate it.’ Stiles said as he flipped on the radio. It landed on what seemed to be top 40, Stiles left it there. He didn’t care what was on, he just wanted background noise.

‘Yeah, they’re assholes, but I think we’d established that already.’

They arrived back at the office and for the next week they dug through about one hundred tips that came in from all over the country. None of them seemed to pan out until a Friday morning when the phone rang. Stiles was already feeling overworked and tired, he hadn’t slept well.

‘Stilinski.’ He said, pinching the bridge of his nose between two fingers.

‘Hello, this is detective Rashford from Redding PD.’ Stiles immediately sat up. Redding? That was about two and a half hours North of Sacramento. ‘We got a call this morning from one of our local hospitals. They might have a lead on Gerard Argent.’ Stiles snapped his fingers at Isaac and when his partner’s head snapped up he pointed sharply at the phone.

‘Thank you for calling. Give us all the details you’ve got, please.’ He added the “please” on at the end mostly as an afterthought.

‘Male, early seventies, showed up at the hospital yesterday. Went by the name of Greg Silverstone. A nurse at the emergency room thought he looked familiar and it wasn’t until this morning when she went to do her rounds that she realized what from. She says he bears a striking resemblance to Gerard Argent, if not a little older and sicker.’ _REDDING_ , Stiles wrote on his notepad in all caps and turned it to Isaac. He immediately started typing.

‘Do you know what he’s in the hospital for? Can they hold him?’

‘Unsure, but the nurse didn’t seem to think there was a chance he’d run.’ Rashford said. ‘I can inform the hospital you will be there as soon as possible? They can put a security guard on the door, just to make sure he doesn’t try anything.’

‘No, lets make him think he’s safe and sound. Just act normal, we don’t want to let him know we’re onto him.’ Stiles said. _POSSIBLY GERARD. WE’RE GOING THERE NOW_ he wrote to Isaac. He immediately got up, grabbed his jacket and headed over to Hartman’s office. Probably a good idea. ‘Make sure that they keep an eye out for Kate Argent. I would assume she’s not there, but if they do see her, make sure they proceed with extreme caution. These people are extremely dangerous.’

‘Understood.’ Rashford said. ‘Do you want me to send a car or two to the hospital in case you need backup? It’s going to take you about two hours to get here, I assume?’

‘Yeah we’ll go on blue lights, so maybe faster.’ Stiles opened his top desk drawer to get his gun. ‘If you have any unmarked cars, it would be nice to have a few of those parked outside. Again, the last thing we want to do is spook these people.’

‘Okay, I’ll make that happen. I hope this is the guy you’re looking for, people like that shouldn’t be walking free.’

‘I agree, detective Rashford. We will be there as soon as possible. Thank you for the call.’ Stiles put the phone down and grabbed everything he needed. Gun, jacket, car keys and handcuffs. Isaac fell into step next to him as they hurried towards the garage. Stiles put on his holster as they walked.

‘Hartman was very appreciative of me warning him before we just ran off.’

‘You’re such a kiss-ass.’ Isaac ignored him and continued like Stiles hadn’t even spoken.

‘We have to check in with him asap as soon as we have intel.’ Isaac said.

‘That’s fine. We’re going to make a beeline for the highway here, we cannot risk him getting away.’ Stiles said as he slipped into the passenger seat. He trusted Isaac to get them there as fast as possible even if he didn’t necessarily trust him to get them there as _safe_ as possible.

‘How certain are you this is actually him?’

‘The nurse who called it in originally seemed pretty certain and he’s using a last name with silver in it.’ Isaac nodded with a grim look on his face.

‘Should we inform Hale?’ He asked. ‘Redding is close enough to Sacramento to be concerning, right?’ Stiles considered this for a second as Isaac turned them onto the fastest route to the highway.

‘I would prefer to confirm it’s actually Argent first, but if we don’t tell him and something happens I will never forgive myself.’

‘Well, then call.’ Isaac said. ‘Just tell him we’re unsure of what we have, but for him to be extra cautious and preferably not to leave his office until we have contacted him again and inform his security not to let anyone up that looks even remotely like Kate Argent.’

‘Yeah, I’ll do that.’ He pulled his phone from his pocket and double checked the number for Derek Hale’s office before dialling.

‘ _Derek Hale’s office this is Erica, how can I help you?_ ’

‘Hi Erica, this is agent Stilinski with the SCTF. Can I speak to mister Hale for a minute?’ Stiles asked. ‘It’s important.’ 

‘ _Of course, he’s in a meeting, but I’ll interrupt_.’ Erica sounded more serious than he’d heard her so far. It was the first time he heard her speak that it didn’t sound like she was smiling. ‘ _Hold please_.’

The elevator music he had to listen to while on hold didn’t really fit the situation they were in. It was almost funny.

‘ _Derek Hale_.’ The now slightly familiar voice came over the phone.

‘Mister Hale, this is agent Stilinski. We are currently on our way to Redding where we seem to have a really good lead on Gerard Argent. Now, Redding is obviously disconcertingly close to Sacramento, so we would like you to put your building’s security on high alert and we would prefer it if you didn’t leave until we contact you again. We want you to be as safe as possible until we can confirm whether or not this is actually Gerard and we find Kate.’ Stiles said in one long ramble. Hale stayed quiet for a beat longer than Stiles would have liked.

‘ _Yes, Redding is disconcertingly close._ ’ Hale said on a very deliberate exhale. ‘ _I will inform the security here and wait for your call. Thank you, agent Stilinski._ ’

‘Of course mist- Derek.’ Stiles hung up and released a deep breath.

‘All good?’ Isaac asked as he flipped on the blue lights and put his foot down. Stiles held onto the handheld as Isaac manoeuvred around a truck.

‘All good. Let’s go see if this is actually an Argent.’

It was a good thing that Stiles had gotten way better at hiding his jitters over the years because he felt like bouncing out of his skin as they walked into the hospital. It didn’t look like anything special from the outside, just another hospital, they all looked the same to Stiles. He hated all of them. This specific hospital in Redding was a Human Only hospital. A few miles north was the Supernatural hospital of the area. Most cities nowadays had combined hospitals, Redding hadn’t made that jump yet. Stiles wondered if this was a deliberate choice by Argent ( _if_ it was Argent, of course).

Anything to distract his mind from the nasty memories begging for attention. Now was not the time to think about his mom.

They had passed by the agents in their unmarked cars outside. They’d asked detective Rashford to wait outside with his men. They had no idea what they were walking into and the last thing Stiles wanted to do was put civilians in danger. Him and Isaac didn’t look like much (or like cops), he was banking on Argent not seeing them as much of a threat (and him being wrong in that assumption, obviously).

The nurse that had called in the tip and her supervisor were waiting for them at the front desk. The supervisor looked like she was geared up for battle, but she also looked slightly taken aback at the sight of them. Another someone who expected all SCTF agents to all be hardened, grumpy old men. While Isaac was most definitely grumpy, he was not old and he looked like a cherub most of the time (unless he was covered in a smelly, questionable, slimy substance, but they were _not_ talking about that one).

After they introduced themselves the supervisor started to speak.

‘First of all, agents, I would like to make it clear that this is a hospital and we expect you to treat it as such. People come here for rest and care, not for you to come marching through, guns out.’ Well, it seemed like she’d either had a very low regard of cops, or she’d had a bad experience. ‘The man you’re coming to see is very ill, even _if_ he is the man you are looking for, you will not be taking him anywhere.’

Stiles could feel himself start to bristle, his magic flaring up in defence, so he was glad that Isaac spoke up. He was certain Isaac made himself look so soft and innocent on purpose.

‘We understand that ma’am.’ He started off with. ‘We are just here to confirm if this is, in fact, Gerard Argent. If it is him, he is a very dangerous man and we just want to make sure that your staff and the other patients here are safe. Plus, we would like to ask him some questions in regard to his daughter, who is still out there and very much healthy and capable of some of the worst things imaginable.’

It was impressive, how Isaac, who sometimes had the tact of a brick through a window, could also say just the right things to make someone bend to his will.

‘Alright.’ The supervisor softened visibly. ‘Aliyah, please tell them what you told me.’

The nurse straightened her back. She was pretty in a quiet way and she looked tired, but from what Stiles remembered hospital staff usually looked tired.

‘Let’s head upstairs while I talk.’ She said and she started heading for the elevators. They all followed her obediently.

Once they were in the elevator, the nurse explained how mister _Silverstone_ , had come walking into the hospital, looking very ill, and how he’d simply explained he had late stage cancer and he wasn’t feeling well. At first, she’d been so busy to try and figure out what the hell was going on, alongside the doctors, that she hadn’t taken him in fully, but when she did, she’d realized he looked familiar.

It had taken her a while to figure out what she knew him from. He was older now and he looked sicker, but then she’d passed by the bulletin board in the staffroom and she’d seen Gerard Argent’s picture on there. She’d called for her supervisor immediately. She’d told her to call the police, who had called the SCTF.

‘How sick is he?’ Stiles asked, mainly to distract himself from the scent of antiseptic in the air. The nurse looked at him coolly as she answered.

‘There’s nothing we can do for him. He’s dying.’ She said, and Stiles could feel something uneasy grow in his stomach.

‘Did he know he was dying?’

‘Yes, he told us that when he first arrived. We think that he’s been to a different hospital before where he was probably diagnosed. All we can do for him now is keep him comfortable.’

Stiles hated everything about that.

‘How long?’

‘His cancer is very advanced, it has spread all over his body. It could be days, it could be weeks, but the doctor doesn’t think he’s got more than two months.’ He’d never go to trial. The bastard.

‘Has he said anything about a daughter he possibly had?’ Isaac asked before Stiles could voice any of his thoughts out loud.

‘No, he hasn’t spoken much about his history at all. We can’t even get him to tell us how long he’s known about his cancer.’

The nurse finally led them onto a relatively open part of the floor. There was a nurse station in the middle and around it were about twelve rooms. Most had the blinds drawn. There was an air of finality in the air. Stiles didn’t need to ask to know that this seemed to be a department where people came to die.

Isaac squeezed his shoulder, while he made it seem like he was just trying to move past Stiles, who had stopped. It was definitely a deliberate move.

He forced his feet back into motion and followed Isaac, who followed the nurse.

‘This is the room.’ The nurse said, and for the first time, she looked nervous. Stiles still felt the unease in his stomach and he realized she must be feeling something similar.

‘You can stay out here if you’d like.’ He said to her, trying to sound reassuring. ‘We will just go in and ask him some questions. It might not even be him.’ He had a gut feeling that it was absolutely him, but he was trying to make her feel better. So, you know.

‘Yes, I would prefer that.’ She said with a decisive nod. Stiles tried for a smile, but he was sure Isaac’s was more effective. They shared a look before they entered the room.

Any doubts that Stiles had had before entering the room (which hadn’t been many to begin with), evaporated as soon as he saw the man in the hospital bed.

The only reason he knew he was upset was because he could feel magic spark at his fingertips. Other than that he mostly felt empty, very, very blank. An empty kind of rage, possibly.

‘Good morning.’ Argent said happily. ‘Is my regular nurse ill?’ He asked, even though Stiles didn’t miss his eyes darting towards their holstered guns. He had cold eyes, even while he pretended to smile, there was no warmth in them.

‘Good morning, mister Silverstone.’ Isaac said with a cool smile. This was quite possibly Stiles’ favourite version of Isaac, when it wasn’t aimed at him. He had perfected “bitchy polite”. ‘How are you today?’

‘Quite well, morphine is a wonderful thing.’ Argent said, still smiling that fake smile.

‘I imagine so.’ Isaac said, patronising. ‘We are two agents of the SCTF, do you mind if we ask you a few questions?’ Stiles clenched his jaw so tight he was afraid he was going to crack a tooth.

The smile stayed firmly on Argent’s face, but his eyes hardened. He knew perfectly well who they were, who he was and why they were here. He wasn’t a bad actor though, he had to give him that.

‘By all means. I’m not sure what this could be about though, I’ve only been in town for a few days.’ Argent said, trying to look innocent.

‘Well, mister Silverstone,’ Stiles was really fucking proud of how steady his voice sounded, even though he could feel his blood boil at the mere sight of the man. ‘have you, at any point, lived in Sacramento or the surrounding area?’

Argent hummed, like he had to think about it.

‘No, we moved here recently from the north east.’ _We_ , he used a plural there. Isaac shifted his foot, Stiles would bet money he’d caught that too.

‘Okay, what did you do for work, sir?’ Isaac asked, meandering over to the window to look outside.

‘Oh, I did a bit of everything. I never really settled on one career. I liked the challenge.’ Argent’s eyes had gone calm again. He didn’t think they actually knew anything. He probably thought they didn’t know who he was.

‘Who did you move over here with?’ Stiles asked. Argent blinked at him.

‘Oh, I came here alone.’ Stiles titled his head and Isaac turned back around so he was facing Argent again.

‘I don’t think that’s true, sir. Earlier, you said “ _we_ moved here recently”.’ Judging by the look on his face, Argent had not meant to say that.

‘Oh, I must have misspoken. My wife died a while ago, but I guess you never unlearn that.’ His wife had, in fact, died over fifteen years ago.

‘You couldn’t have been talking about your daughter?’ Isaac asked casually. If he were a character in one of those cop-shows he would have been checking out his nails while he asked it.

‘My… daughter?’

‘Yes, Katherine Argent? Wanted for about thirteen counts of murder?’ Stiles asked, leaning back against the wall. Casual. He was so calm. So calm. ‘Or did you think we didn’t know you were Gerard Argent?’

Stiles could see the indecision behind those cold blue eyes for a few seconds as he tried to decide if he was going to keep denying it of if he’d own up. He seemed to make his decision.

It was actually kind of scary how easily and quickly he dropped the mask of “doped up old man who’s dying slowly” and turned into “dude who totally orchestrated the murder of thirteen people including seven children”.

‘What is today’s date?’ He asked, the soft, dopey sound had completely disappeared from his voice. He sounded like his son now.

‘The sixteenth.’ Isaac said, narrowing his eyes. Argent nodded slowly.

‘Well, that means you’re never going to catch up with her anyways.’ So she was here.

Why though? Why come back _now_? After all these years of staying out of the clutches of law enforcement. Why now? And why _here_? He had to have known he’d get caught this close to Sacramento and this close to the anniversary. Cases always got picked up again around their anniversaries.

‘Is she heading for Sacramento? Is this some kind of crazy endgame?’ Stiles pushed, stepping away from the wall towards Argent. Isaac was ready to grab Stiles if he went for Argent’s throat. He wouldn’t. He wouldn’t let himself loose control like that. He couldn’t afford to.

‘No crazy endgame, just… tying up loose ends.’ Argent said, cold and smiling.

Derek. She _was_ going after Derek. Fucking shit.

‘I’ll go talk to Redding PD. Get Rashford to put some men on his room.’ Isaac seemed to come to the same conclusion. He pulled his phone from his pocket and hit stop on the recorder. ‘He probably won’t go to trial considering he’s dying, but we can use this against Kate for sure.’ He wiggled his phone at Stiles.

Stiles allowed himself to soak in the surprised look on Argent’s face for just a second before heading for the door.

‘I didn’t admit to anything in that. You’ve got nothing.’ Argent raised his voice, maybe he was hoping they’d stop, that they’d come back to talk to him some more. Maybe he hoped they’d let him buy Kate more time, but that wasn’t happening.

In approximately three sentences, Stiles explained to the supervisor that she did, in fact, have Gerard Argent in her hospital and what was going to happen now. He waited until the Redding PD agents had been stationed at the door after they’d handcuffed him to the bed (even though it felt like that took about fifteen hours), then he hurried downstairs where he found Isaac already in the car, engine idling.

Stiles could have kissed him.

He didn’t cause that would’ve been weird. Plus, they had more important shit to do.

‘Why the fuck didn’t we get Hale’s person number?’ Stiles asked himself more than anything. ‘Now I have to call his goddamn office again.’ he grumbled, again, more at himself than at Isaac while he dialled the number. ‘I like Erica, but this shit is kind of time sensit-‘

‘Derek Hale’s office, this is Erica.’

‘Hi Erica, it’s agent Stilinski again-‘

‘I’ll put you through, and ask for his personal cell already.’ She sighed. ‘I may be the best secretary in the world, but this stuff is life or death.’ Stiles cleared his throat.

‘Uh yes. Thank you Erica.’

‘Uh huh.’ She just said before the line switched to that goddamn elevator music again.

‘Well, at least you two are on the same page.’

‘Shut the f-‘ Stiles coughed to hide his aborted curse as the line clicked back to life.

‘Derek Hale?’

‘Ah yes, mist- Derek, we are heading back to Sacramento from Redding. We found Gerard Argent-‘ Stiles wanted to continue, but what was he supposed to say? How could he explain over the phone that there was no way this man would go to prison for what he did? ‘-and we have reason to believe Katherine Argent is heading for, or already in Sacramento.’

‘Okay.’ Hale said after a beat too long. ‘I would like to leave my office now. I would feel safer at my home.’ Stiles cringed, he really didn’t want Hale to just go marching out of his office unprotected, it was the first place Kate would go.

‘I really would prefer if you didn’t go out without any sort of protection-‘

‘Well, then get me some.’ It was the first time Stiles heard Hale’s voice go sharp. Fear. Stiles recognized it as fear. ‘My pack is as much under threat from Argent as I am, I want everyone together and safe. That means I want to go to my home.’

Stiles didn’t recognize the feeling tingling at his fingertips, but it was definitely different from the _anger_ that usually made his magic act up.

‘Alright, is your home far from your workplace? And is it secure?’

‘My home is in a apartment building with 24/7 security and I have security systems on my home itself, it has multiple exits, mostly fire-proof _and_ it is not in my name.’ That actually sounded pretty good.

‘Alright, I will make a call and get SCTF agents to pick you up and take you to your home. Will your pack need escorting as well?’ Stiles would have preferred to be the one to escort Hale to his home, just because there was a certain feeling of guilt bubbling in his stomach. Kate had probably been in Sacramento when they left to go find her father. On the other hand, something about being the second Stilinski to try and protect a Hale from an Argent felt uncomfortable as well. He didn’t want history repeating itself.

‘Well, Erica is here with me. Two others are at home. I would like the final two to be escorted home as well.’ Hale cleared his throat, his voice had lost the sharp edge. ‘I apologize, you must think I’m overreacting-‘

‘No!’ Stiles said, too sharp and too loud. Isaac looked over at him with raised eyebrows. ‘I mean, no, not at all. It’s better to be safe than sorry-‘

‘- and better to be paranoid than dead.’ He could hear Hale smile. ‘Right, I remember who I am talking to now.’ Stiles had to bite the inside of his cheek not to grin. This was good, they needed to breathe, all of them. Calm, slow is smooth, smooth is fast and fast is safe.

‘I will need the locations of your two other pack members.’

‘Yes, it would probably be easier if I text those to you, correct?’

‘Yes and uh, it would also be easier and safer if we had your personal number as well. It would make communication easier and faster.’ Stiles said, pointedly ignoring Isaac’s _look_. He knew that was extremely awkward, he didn’t need Isaac to give him _looks_ to let him know.

‘Yes, you will have my number after I text you the locations of my pack.’ Hale cleared his throat again. ‘The agents you’re sending, will they need to escort me all the way to my home, or will they be able to just bring me into the building? I would prefer if only a select group of people knew the extent of my security and my exact address. Especially because of- of what happened last time.’ When and SCTF agent leaked his and his sister’s location and she died alongside Stiles’ father.

‘I-‘

‘Actually, I’ve changed my mind.’ Hale said suddenly and almost a little panicky. ‘You and agent Lahey can collect my pack and myself, I can wait.’ Stiles understood.

‘That is perfectly alright as well. Isaac is driving like a damn maniac at the moment so if we make it back to Sacramento alive-‘ Making jokes to release the tension.

‘Asshole.’ Isaac cut in.

‘-we should be able to make it there in about an hour and a half.’

‘Could I ask you go get my pack first? I am safe here, I would be able to relax a lot more if I knew they were safe.’

‘We can do that.’ Stiles confirmed. _If_ they made it there. He was afraid to look at the speedometer right now, Isaac was really putting his foot down. Hale’s breath out was so relieved, Stiles felt a swoop of sadness for the guy. He was only a couple years older than Stiles and he seemed to have so much weight on his shoulders. That couldn’t possibly be healthy, not even for a supernatural creature with super strength.

‘Okay. I will text you where you can find them.’

‘Yes we will pick them up, and then probably take them to your home and then we will come get you and Erica.’

‘Understood. Thank you, agent Stilinski.’

‘Of course, mister Hale. We will see you in a few hours, sit tight and preferably stay away from windows.’

‘Well, that went well.’ Isaac said as Stiles hung up. ‘So, we’re going to get them ourselves?’

‘Yeah, at first he wanted to get home asap, but then he seemed to realize that meant telling more people where his home was and with what happened last time, I can imagine him not wanting to do that. So we’re going to get two of his pack first and then we’ll go get Hale and Erica.’

‘Alright, let’s go do that.’ Isaac said, luckily keeping his eyes firmly on the road as he manoeuvred around a large truck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! 
> 
> Comments make me squeal with delight!


End file.
